Help: Urban foxes are digging up my lawn

[User]

 

[thom]

Isn't the noisy behaviour about calling their mate as they have found food (as opposed to shagging which is an oft cited presumption) ?

 

[Maz]

Foxes are a protected species, so be careful what you do. See what your council's website says about the matter. I had a problem with foxes pooing in the garden and I phoned up the council - they told me to put detergent on the poo, to remove the scent to stop them pooing in the same place again. It worked, but I dont know if it was the detergent or if the foxes got bored and moved on to somewhere else.

 

[glasgowcyclist]

Rifle?


GC

 

[glasgowcyclist]

Foxes are a protected species, so be careful what you do.

Hunting foxes without hounds is still permitted and they don't appear on the list of protected species at naturalengland.org.uk.

GC

 

[Maz]

Hunting foxes without hounds is still permitted and they don't appear on the list of protected species at naturalengland.org.uk.

GC

I think you're right about them not being protected. However, every effort should be made to deter them by humane methods.

 

[Fnaar]

My brother had them 'nesting' (or whatever foxes do) under his shed. First he gave them names, and gave regular facebook updates of their antics. Then he took the shed down, put in a concrete base, and put the shed back up.

 

[glasgowcyclist]

OK, but they are not regarded as vermin, so it's not legal to kill them for no reason.

Some farmers will disagree about them being vermin (I'm not a farmer). I wouldn't kill a fox but I'd like a reliable method of keeping them away from my garden.

GC

 

[martint235]

Someone I know gave them names and now buys chicken from the supermarket, cooks it and feeds it to them. Perhaps they are like cats so if you feed them, they'll treat your garden as "home" and sh1t somewhere else?

 

[Cycling Naturalist]

Not only that, they make a truly godawful racket in the night, barking, growling and rampaging around (actually it's quite funny), and they leave their horrible stinky sh1t everywhere. Reviews of deterrent products seem to vary - has anyone found a method that really works? I don't mind them being around, but I don't really want them setting up home in my garden and trashing it.

Realistically, the only way of killing them humanely is by shooting them. However, although it is possible to do this legally, I don't know of anyone ever trying it in a garden in an urban area, and it's certainly not something I'd try. The usual other options - poisoning, trapping etc. are also a compete no no, so you are left with trying to discourage them. Good luck!

 

[MontyVeda]

what about slyly chucking scraps of food in to a neighbour's garden, then the foxes might move out for tastier pastures

 

[GrumpyGregry]

Short hose pipe attached to infrared cat scarer?

 

[glasgowcyclist]

The usual other options - poisoning, trapping etc. are also a compete no no, so you are left with trying to discourage them. Good luck!

Live trapping is allowed. There are businesses offering the service or just the traps.

GC

 

[rvw]

We had a badger problem at one point (tempted by new lawn, which it ploughed up very effectively; not discouraged by next door's dog as they were away for 6 weeks...). The suggestions we got were (a) tea bags soaked in Jeyes fluid by the gaps in the fence where it got in and (b) human urine (helpful male friends? with a certain amount of care not to get done for indecent exposure!) Whether either will work for foxes, I don't know. And the imagination boggles at how someone came up with (a)!

 

[ianrauk]

They are creatures of habit. We had some a few years back. Fighting and crapping on my lawn and jeez, fox crap stinks bad. I found out they were climbing over a low fence, running along the fence and through a gap in the sheds. I heightened the fence, blocked off the gap and put old wheels along the fence.

That seemed to stop them.